Microsoft Azure Bastion

Microsoft Azure Bastion is a service that allows you to securely and seamlessly connect to your Azure virtual machines (VMs) over Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) and Secure Shell (SSH) directly from the Azure portal. With Azure Bastion, you can access your VMs from any device with a web browser, without the need to install any additional software or configure any network settings.

Here is an example of how you might use Azure Bastion:

Imagine you have a VM running in Azure that you need to access to troubleshoot an issue or perform maintenance. With Azure Bastion, you can connect to the VM directly from the Azure portal using RDP or SSH. To do this, you simply click on the VM in the portal, then click the "Connect" button. The Azure Bastion service will automatically launch an RDP or SSH connection to the VM, allowing you to access the VM as if you were sitting at the console.

In terms of architecture, Azure Bastion is implemented as a cloud service that runs in the Azure public cloud. It uses Azure Active Directory (AD) to authenticate users and Azure Virtual Network (VNet) to securely connect to VMs. When you connect to a VM using Azure Bastion, the service establishes a secure, encrypted connection between your device and the VM using RDP or SSH.

Azure Bastion is designed to be easy to use and requires minimal setup. To use the service, you simply enable it for your VNet and create a Bastion host resource in the Azure portal. Once the Bastion host is created, you can use it to connect to any VM in the VNet.